


Safer Than I Remember (Is This Home?)

by piteouspeculiarity



Series: Defining Home [2]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Family Bonding, Family Dynamics, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Minor Violence, POV TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Sad TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Sick Character, Sick TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Sleepy Bois Inc as Family, TommyInnit Angst (Video Blogging RPF), TommyInnit is Not Okay (Video Blogging RPF)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:35:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27619816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/piteouspeculiarity/pseuds/piteouspeculiarity
Summary: It's been a few weeks since he ran away and Tommy's moved in with Techno. He's settling in fine, except that he feels like he's constantly confused: Techno hadn't gotten mad at him once, even when Tommy made stupid mistakes and did things that would have gotten him hit not a month ago. But the strangest thing is that Techno, hell, all three of them, seem to genuinely care about him.Hopefully Tubbo will be able to help him work out what's happening.
Relationships: Technoblade & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, TommyInnit & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson, Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit
Series: Defining Home [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2006428
Comments: 564
Kudos: 4094
Collections: Completed stories I've read, Found family to make me feel something, MCYT Fic Rec





	1. Promises (I Know You'll Keep Them)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy streams his first stream in a few weeks and has a movie night with his new family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Swearing (obvs) + mainly the effects of child abuse in this one but that can be just as upsetting, so keep yourselves safe <3
> 
> Side note: If you haven't read the first part of the series, parts of this may confuse you but you know, you do you, I'm sure you're capable of inferring what you need to :D

“Welcome to the stream everyone!” Tommy grinned, leaning forward. “It’s been a while but as you can see, we have a new addition to the set up.”

He gestured to the green screen behind him, ignoring the growl in his stomach. “Each day that passes I become more like the famous GeorgeNotFound.”

Resting his chin on his clasped hands, he hummed. “We have a lot to do today. I was preparing a little off stream, all the boring stuff that no one wants to do, but I think,” He sits up holding up a finger, “I _think_ that I’ve found a much more efficient way to do things.”

The stream starts off better than he expected, tens of thousands of people showing up to his first stream in weeks. Technically, he could have streamed at Wilbur’s place, but then people would be asking why – besides, he was confident that his face was completely back to normal now.

There were still the odd questions in his chat about where he’d been, but he’d been active on Twitter and had had a few back up videos for YouTube, so he’d only really stopped streaming and the questions were drowned out by the excitement for the stream.

The green screen had been Techno’s idea, and even if Tommy had always liked the realness that came with not having one, he had to admit it was a good idea. He could always just say he moved, but no one outside of Phil, Wilbur and Techno knew even that much and he didn’t want to deal with his friends asking why he hadn’t told them. Everyone knew that Techno had moved, it was a big thing, but even Tubbo didn’t know that Tommy had moved in with him.

He heard a knock on his door and stopped moving in game. “I’m streaming!”

It was curious how he felt none of the worry that usually came with the threat of someone coming in his room while he was streaming.

He groaned at the squeak of his door opening, giving the camera an exasperated look. “I said I’m streaming, leave me alone.”

“We agreed that you’d eat something before you streamed.” Techno’s distinct voice came from behind the green screen and Tommy buried his head in his hands, refusing to look at chat.

He muted himself but kept the camera on, figuring Techno wouldn’t come into frame. “Oh well, it’s too late now. I’ll grab a snack later if I’m hungry.”

“Nope.” Techno said cheerfully and Tommy glared at him as he came into view of the camera, holding a plate of what had to be at least forty chicken nuggets. “I made you dinner.”

Tommy couldn’t hold back his laugh at the sight. “Techno, what the fuck.”

“I was going to put some in the oven –“

“You _didn’t._ ” Tommy interrupted, remembering Techno’s horrible cooking and narrowing his eyes at the chicken nuggets in suspicion. He didn’t think Techno would try to poison him on purpose, but he wouldn’t be surprised if he managed to ruin chicken nuggets.

“– But Wil told me not to, so I just got three boxes of twenty from McDonalds instead.”

He ran a hand through his hair, failing in stopping the massive grin that was trying to take over his face. “You’re ridiculous.”

“You skipped lunch.” Techno shrugged. “We both know Phil would kill me if I didn’t make sure you got at least one hot meal a day.”

Tommy laughed but took the plate from Techno. “I wasn’t about to snitch on you for not making me eat.”

“Well maybe Phil has a point.” Techno looked off to the side and Tommy was reminded just how grateful he was that he got to live with the man. Fuck, he didn’t think his parents had ever gone out just to make sure he had something to eat that night.

He looked at his monitor to distract himself from the thought and held back a sigh when he saw the chat flying past, wondering what Techno was doing in Tommy’s room with food.

“Ugh, now look what you’ve done.” Tommy scratched the back of his neck, nervous. “You know I can’t lie for shit.”

Techno rolled his eyes and leaned over to unmute them, staring at the camera with the most deadpan expression Tommy had ever seen on him. “I live in England now. It is much easier to visit friends when you live in the same country. Stop asking stupid questions.”

Tommy barked out a laugh. “Yeah chat, you heard the man.”

Techno muted them again and ruffled Tommy’s hair, forcing Tommy to bat his hands away. “Wil’s coming over later with Phil. It’s the first official movie night of the house so make sure to wear your best.”

“Joggers and a hoodie, got it.” Tommy watched him leave the camera’s view and hovered his finger over the mute button, biting his lip. “Thank you for the food Techno.”

“Of course, Tommy.”

Tommy smiled and unmuted himself again, hearing his door shut with another squeak. “It’s official guys, Technoblade is a legend in real life too.”

  


He ended the stream, smiling at his camera for a few more seconds just in case and then stretched his hands above his head. A glance at his phone told him that the others had already arrived, and he hurried to get changed into something comfier before going downstairs and forcing himself in between Phil and Wilbur.

There were two couches and technically they would have a lot more room if they spread themselves out across both of them, but Tommy thought it would be better if they were all snuggled on the same one – not that he’d ever admit that to them. One just had a much better view of the screen than the other, and he wasn’t about to sacrifice that just because he had to sit closer to his friends.

“Hi guys.” Tommy yawned. “How are you?”

“Someone’s sleepy.” Wilbur teased, poking his side. “I’m good, I uploaded today.”

“Duh. I knew that.” Tommy had watched the video as soon as it came out.

Phil laughed at the two of them. “My day was pretty boring. How was your stream?”

“Good!” Tommy sat up, a brief burst of energy going through him at the reminder of the stream. “It was nice to stream again; most people were pretty chill.”

“Did the chicken nuggets help?” Techno called from where he stood next to the microwave, presumably making popcorn.

Tommy smiled involuntarily; he hadn’t come anywhere close to finishing them, but he hadn’t been able to stop grinning the whole time he was streaming. “Yeah, I’d forgotten how exhausting streaming is.”

“You are possibly the biggest child I know.” Wilbur said, poking him again. “Seriously, I can’t believe you eat chicken nuggets.”

Tommy gasped, poking him back. “How dare you, chicken nuggets are the best thing the world has ever made.”

“ _Child._ ” Wilbur mocked.

“I hate you.” Tommy declared, leaning back into the chair and crossing his arms. “You are my least favourite person.”

Wilbur threw an arm over Tommy, pulling him into a hug that he could easily escape if he wanted to. “Aww, I know you love me really.”

“I don’t.” Tommy said, but he didn’t remove himself from the hug and leaned into Wilbur fully, bringing his feet up so they were tucked under Phil’s legs. “Hurry up Techno or we’re going to start without you.”

Techno snorted but plopped down next to Wilbur, reaching over to pinch Tommy’s cheek with the hand that wasn’t holding the bowl of popcorn. “Is the poor child grouchy?”

“Stop it.” Tommy rolled his eyes. “Phil is literally the only one here I like and respect.”

“Thanks Tommy.” Phil patted his ankle and then let his hand rest there. “Have we decided what to watch?”

“Wilbur said he wanted to watch Up.” Tommy lied, fighting against the desire to close his eyes but eventually giving in.

Sitting up slightly, Wilbur ignored Tommy’s mutter for him to ‘lay the fuck back down’ and protested. “I absolutely did not. We have seen that film at least fifty times; I hated it the first time I saw it and I still hated it the last time I saw it.”

“You were crying.” Techno added and Tommy reached out blindly for a fist bump, grinning when the action was reciprocated.

Wilbur laid back again, and Tommy could hear the smile in his voice as he curled into his chest again – it wasn’t his fault he was tired and Wilbur was comfortable. “You’re a liar Techno, we all know it. Besides, I wanted to watch that new film, you know the trailer I put into the group chat?”

Tommy stayed silent. He’d seen the trailer and he’d stopped breathing the instant the mother had started shouting at her child – it had taken a long shower and a conversation with Tubbo to distract him and get his heart rate completely back to normal.

There was a pause and for a minute Tommy thought they were just going to put on Wilbur’s film but thankfully, Techno had a better idea. “We can just continue what we were watching on Netflix.”

Tommy opened his eyes, silently praising Techno for being Techno. “That’s a good idea.”

Besides, the episodes were only about twenty minutes long each and he knew that Techno found them easier to pay attention to than full length films.

Techno put the show on and Tommy found it was getting harder and harder to stay awake, his head getting heavier by the second. Soon enough he gave in and closed his eyes again, putting his full weight on Wilbur and sighing when the other started carding his fingers through Tommy’s hair.

It had only been a day since he’d seen Wilbur and Phil, but he’d gotten used to being able to see them whenever he felt like it, so finally moving into the new house and not being able to walk a few meters to see them had taken some getting used to.

He forced his eyes open again, determined to make the most of the time he had with them but Wilbur’s hand in his hair really wasn’t helping and he struggled to keep them more than half open.

Phil rubbed his ankle. “Go to sleep Tommy, we’re staying for a while.”

“Yeah, we’ll wake you if we need to leave Toms.”

Tommy yawned again and snuggled more into Wilbur. “Promise?”

“Promise.”

He was awake just long enough to hear Techno turn down the volume.

  


When he woke the show was still playing but a glance to the others showed that they’d all fallen asleep as well.

Removing himself from Wilbur’s arms, he stood, stretching his arms above his head and wincing as his back cracked. He paused the show and then walked over to the kitchen to get a glass of water, chugging it down and pouring another one.

Phil was slouched in the corner of the chair and Techno was leaning on Wilbur – Tommy eyed them for a moment before sighing and walking to the cupboard they kept spare blankets In and grabbing a few.

He wasn’t that tired anymore but everyone else looked to be in a deep sleep, so he spread the blankets over them as best he could and went to his room to grab his phone.

He had a few tweet notifications and a message from Tubbo.

_‘TECHNOBLADE??_

_TOMMY YOU DIDN’T TELL ME TECHNO WAS GOING TO VISIT_

_THIS IS VERY STRANGE_

_CALL??’_

The messages had been sent a few hours ago and it was well past midnight now, so Tommy vowed to message Tubbo in the morning, knowing he was asleep. He also wanted to talk to Techno about what he was allowed to tell Tubbo; he didn’t want to lie to his best friend, but he wasn’t sure how much Techno wanted him to keep secret.

Rubbing a hand across his face to wake himself up properly – it was practically morning anyway – Tommy sat down to start the edit on his next video. Technically, he should probably do some work for college, since he had a bit of catch up to do from the time he’d missed, but he really didn’t want to.

Phil had been the one to sort out his switch in colleges and make sure he could continue what he was doing before – he’d missed about a two weeks of it but luckily it seemed that his new college was a week or so behind his old college, so he didn’t have that much to do.

Besides, whatever Phil had said to them had convinced his teachers to give him a little slack in terms of handing work in.

The time sped by whilst he was editing his video and before he knew it, there was light streaming in through his windows.

He saved his progress and went downstairs to start making food; Techno had wasted money on food for him yesterday, which meant that Tommy owed him.

He tried to keep as quiet as possible – there wasn’t a wall in between the kitchen and the living room like he was used to – not wanting to wake the others up before the food was ready.

Unfortunately, it seemed it wasn’t meant to be as the pan he was using for the bacon slipped and he instinctively reached to catch it, burning his hand on the metal. “Fuck!”

The pan clattered to the floor, forgotten as he clutched his hand instead.

Unbidden, tears rose and he gasped at the pain.

Water. He needed water.

He moved to the sink, stumbling a little over the fallen pan but getting there without another incident.

God, he was so _stupid_. Why on earth would he try to catch a burning hot pan? What was wrong with him?

He turned on the cold water with his free hand and tried to calm his breathing as he held his burnt hand under it.

“Tommy?”

Shit. He’d woken Phil. He’d been sleeping and Tommy had woken him up and now he was going to hate him.

He turned around, trying to make himself as small as possible.

“Phil, I - I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, it just - it fell and I – I’m sorry –“

Phil held his hands up. “Hey, it’s okay Toms. I’m not worried about that; I’m worried about you.”

“I didn’t mean to.” Tommy sniffed.

“I know, I know.” Phil walked towards him slowly and Tommy kept his eyes on the man’s hands. “I’m not mad, I promise.”

Tommy watched as Wil stood up from the chair as well, looked between them and then poked Techno awake. He could feel the anxiety building in his stomach and hastily wiped away the tears that had fallen, wincing as the burn on his hand pulsed.

His eyes darted back to Phil as he stepped forward again and Tommy leaned back against the sink.

Phil’s foot caught on the pan and Tommy’s eyes widened as he bent down to pick it up by the handle. He relaxed slightly when Phil just placed it on the counter before reaching back down for the fallen bacon.

Tommy watched as Techno came back into the room with the first aid kit, shocked when he realised he hadn’t noticed the other leaving.

“Tommy,” Phil said, voice low, “Can I see your hand?” 

Tommy looked in between him and Wilbur, who nodded at him, and then to Techno, who was frowning in the way that Tommy had learned meant he was worried.

Phil was smiling at him. Patient and kind and _not angry_.

Tommy held out his burnt hand and tried to calm himself down as Phil took it in his own, studying the burn carefully.

He was being ridiculous – he knew none of them would ever hurt him, knew that they’d die before they raised a hand to him. But he still felt his hand shake in Phil’s and he wasn’t sure what he was scared of.

No. That was a lie. He knew exactly what he was scared of and he knew he had good reason to be.

They could change their mind at any time. The instant they realised how useless and how – how fucking incompetent and spoiled he was, he’d be kicked out. And how could he blame them? He was practically tricking them at this point, manipulating them into thinking he was worth their time and money.

“It doesn’t look too bad.” Phil stepped next to him and guided his hand under the water again. “We’ll put some cream on it and then wrap it and you should be fine.”

Tommy didn’t reply and refused to look at Phil, trying to hold back the sob that was building in his chest. Biting his lip, Tommy stared at the wall in front of him – his hand barely hurt anymore due to the cold water, yet for some reason his chest still ached.

He felt someone stand on his other side and a quick glance told him it was Wilbur, holding the first aid kit. “Hey Toms.”

“Hi Wil.” Tommy choked out. “Good morning.”

“Not the best start if I’m honest.” Wilbur tried to joke.

Tommy shrank into himself a little more. “I’m sorry.”

“No that’s –“ Wilbur cursed under his breath. “That’s not what I meant. You’ve got nothing to be sorry for, it was an accident.”

Tommy looked at Wilbur to assess his honesty, the tension in his shoulders releasing a little when he saw the sincerity in his eyes.

Phil took his attention again when he spoke. “C’mere Toms.”

He hesitated for a moment, one hand still under the water, but Phil’s arms looked far too inviting to resist and the idea of a Phil hug was overpowering.

Curling himself up so he’d fit, Tommy tucked himself under Phil’s chin and gripped onto the front of Phil’s shirt, no longer able to hold back his sobs.

“You’re okay.” Phil whispered into his hair. “We love you. You’re okay.”

The arms around his waist calmed his racing heart more than he thought anything else could, the ache slipping away along with the thoughts that were clouding his head.

Eventually his tears stopped and he pulled away, wiping at his face. An apology creeped on the tip of his tongue but he forced it back – apologising wouldn’t change anything. “Thank you.”

“Anytime Toms.” Phil ruffled his hair. “Why don’t you go with Wil so he can sort out your hand? Techno and I will finish making breakfast.”

Nodding, Tommy followed Wilbur as he led the way to Tommy’s bedroom, looking for Tommy’s permission before entering.

Tommy sat next to Wilbur on his bed and gave him his hand, feeling ready for a nap. He opened his mouth to but closed it again when he realised he didn’t know what to say.

Wilbur was the one to break the silence. “Does it hurt?”

“Not really.”

He was being honest – as long as he kept it still the pain was nowhere near as bad as it had been.

And honestly? He’d had far worse than a small burn on his hand. He knew he was just overreacting and looking for attention, just like he always did.

Wilbur opened the first aid kit and grabbed a cream from it. “That’s good.”

Tommy watched as Wilbur applied the cream to his hands with careful movements, muttering an apology when Tommy winced and then wrapping it tightly.

For once the silence wasn’t uncomfortable and helped Tommy completely relax, leaning into Wilbur with a small smile.

“It looks kind of cool.” Tommy joked, turning it over in front of his face.

Wilbur huffed out a surprised laugh. “Yeah, I guess it does. I’m not sure Phil would agree though.”

“Nah Phil knows what’s cool.”

Wilbur laid down and tugged on the back of Tommy’s shirt so he did the same. “Are you sure about that?”

Gasping dramatically, Tommy held his injured hand to his chest. “I can’t believe you’d say that about the one and only Philza.”

“You’re just a Phil stan.”

Tommy scoffed. “Everyone is a Phil stan at heart.”

“True.” Wilbur sat up. “Come on then, can’t wait for you all day.”

“You’re the one that forced me to lay down.” Tommy exclaimed, indignation making his voice higher.

Wilbur shook his head and left the room, calling over his shoulder. “I remember different.”

Grumbling, Tommy stood up to follow Wilbur out of the room, trying to hide the large grin that was covering his face.

  


“He was supposed to be safe here Phil.” Techno buried his face in his hands, guilt making him nauseous. “He wasn’t meant to ever get hurt again.”

“Accidents happen Techno.” Phil said, placing a hand on his back.

“It’s my job to protect him and I’ve failed. It’s as simple as that.” Techno stood and started pacing, but his eyes kept darting over to where Wilbur and Tommy had left.

Phil shook his head. “No, he might live with you, but Tommy is all of our responsibility.”

“But –“

“Techno, Tommy’s gone through some shit and I doubt we’ll know the full effects of that for years to come. Of course there are things that we know not to do, and things that we wouldn’t do anyway, but there will be moments that blindside us because we won’t expect them, like today, and all we can do is let him know we love him and stick with him.”

Phil was earnest and Techno knew there was truth in his words. “I just hate that he got hurt.”

“We all do.”

Techno sighed. “I better start breakfast.”

“Not a chance.” Phil laughed. “I’ll start breakfast and you concentrate on not making any fires.”

“I’m not that bad.”

“No comment.”

  


“I’m afraid to say that Tommy has succumbed to his injuries.” Wilbur said as he entered the room.

Laughing, Tommy pushed him from behind. “Shut up Wilbur.”

“Sometimes it’s like I can still hear his voice.”

“Wilbur is a bitch. Wilbur is a bitch.” Tommy chanted. “Wilbur is –“

Throwing an arm over his shoulder, Wilbur finally gave in with a laugh. “Gremlin child.”

“What’s for breakfast Phil?” Tommy asked, stomping down the guilt that came with the question.

Pausing in cooking, Phil studied Tommy for a moment before speaking. “Bacon and eggs. It should be ready in a minute or so.”

Techno hummed. “Does that count as cannibalism?”

“I don’t know, are you actually part pig?” Wilbur asked, sarcasm coating his words.

Techno shrugged, walking over to Tommy and ruffling his hair, making it clear what he was doing before he did so. “I’ve never had a DNA test, so technically, I could be.”

“You –“ Wilbur shook his head. “That’s somewhat worrying.”

“I can kind of see it.” Tommy said, tilting his head at Techno.

“Breakfast’s ready!” Phil called, interrupting whatever Techno was going to say. “Come and get it before I give it to the dog.”

Techno’s eyebrows furrowed. “We don’t have a dog.”

Face lighting up with a grin, Tommy turned to Techno. “We should get one.”

“Breakfast?”

“A _dog_.” Tommy practically skipped towards the kitchen. “Imagine the likes a dog would get.”

Wilbur followed him. “It’s not a bad idea.”

“What’s not a bad idea?” Phil asked.

“Getting a dog.” Tommy said cheerfully.

Techno groaned. “Absolutely not.”

“Actually,” Phil started with a thoughtful look, “A dog would be helpful.”

Techno threw his hands up. “How on earth would a dog be helpful?”

“Let me do some research.” Phil said, handing them an each a plate. “Obviously, it’s your decision, but wait until I send you a few links before you say no.”

Techno groaned again, knowing that that meant he was inevitably going to give in. “Fine.”

Tommy cheered. “Yes! We’re getting a dog, Wil!”

“Yes!” Wilbur shouted back. “So many likes!”

“Nerds.” Techno muttered, handing out cutlery.

Tommy stuck his tongue out at him and shared a grin with Wilbur before starting to eat his breakfast. He hadn’t realised how hungry he was and he gladly ate through the pain that came with using his fork with his injured hand.

It was annoying that he had to work out some other way to pay back Techno for the food yesterday and Phil for the breakfast that morning, but in that moment he revelled in the calm atmosphere as they ate their breakfast, making the occasional joke at eachother’s expense but never maliciously.

It was strange. He’d gotten used to avoiding eating with others because of how uncomfortably tense it got with his parents, but it hadn’t been like that once in the last few weeks and it was somewhat disconcerting to see the stark difference between the two families.

And no one had made a single comment about the mess he’d made this morning – in fact, all Phil had done was asked if his hand was okay, no hidden anger beneath his words.

Tommy had gotten used to analysing every word for that anger, needing to know the exact mood and tone before he responded and when he did, speaking as though he were walking on broken glass, careful and controlled.

There was none of that anymore and Tommy was scared he would get too used to this weird, new normal and yet, he still couldn’t bring himself to make sure he wouldn’t – to leave.

Despite all effort to not, he’d found himself attached to the home he’d created with Techno – the way he had a shelf just for his snacks, the way he was excited to come home from college every day, the way he wasn’t constantly worrying about getting enough donations on streams so he’d be able to pay the bills.

He wasn’t sure if that was supposed to be normal – wasn’t sure if that was the same way Tubbo felt or if he’d just gotten extremely lucky but either way, he was reluctant to give it up so soon after getting it.

In his pocket, his phone chimed and he took it out to see another message from Tubbo.

‘ _You alive??’_

Tommy bit his lip. He still hadn’t asked Techno what he could tell his friend but now was as good a time as ever.

He sent Tubbo a quick message to stop him from worrying.

‘ _I’m alive. Give me a few and I’ll explain.’_

“Techno?” Tommy asked, pushing around the crumbs on his plate with his fork.

Beside him, Wilbur and Phil’s conversation stopped and Tommy shifted in his seat. He’d always been good at talking but that rarely included talking about anything serious.

Techno finished chewing. “Yeah?”

“Tubbo messaged me after the stream yesterday.” Techno didn’t speak, perhaps sensing that Tommy wasn’t finished. “He wanted to know why you were there.”

“Okay.” Confusion coloured Techno’s voice.

Tommy dropped his fork to wring his hands together, wincing at the clang it made against his plate. “Well, you see, I was just wondering, uh, how much exactly he’s allowed to know?”

“Well, however much you want to tell him, I guess.” Techno shrugged. “It’s up to you Toms, he’s your friend and I know you’re close to him. It might be nice if you had someone like that to talk to, but it’s your choice.”

“Oh.” Tommy said.

What was with these people and confusing him at every turn?

“Tommy?” He turned to look at Phil. “What did you think Techno was going to say?”

Was this another one of those things that was normal to other people? Or was Techno’s answer weird?

Tommy wrinkled his nose, unsure. “I don’t know. I just, I didn’t want to cause trouble?”

Wilbur looked far more horrified than the situation warranted when Tommy glanced at him, so Tommy ignored him and looked back to Phil, who wasn’t much better, but was at least smiling.

“Right.” Phil blew out a breath before fixing Tommy with a serious look. “You need to know something Tommy, and it’s really important that you listen and believe me, okay?”

“Uh, okay.”

Phil placed his hands on the table and leaned forward. “The only reason that you would be causing trouble, is if Techno, Wil or I had done something wrong in keeping you away from, from _that place_ , and we’ve done nothing wrong. If anyone ever tells you to keep something secret or, or threatens you to, then you should always tell one of us. Even if it’s one of us that does that – and I can promise you that that will never happen – you should tell someone you can trust. Whether that’s Tubbo or someone else entirely.”

Tommy wasn’t sure his heart had ever been so full. Phil had said a lot and the implications, God the implications were enough to make him question everything.

But it made sense. That was the biggest thing: everything Phil had said had made sense.

“It’s your life.” Wilbur added. “You have the right to tell who you want about it and none of us have any sort of claim over that.”

That was the final straw. Tommy felt tears rising and he wasn’t sure why – for some reason he’d been crying more in the last few weeks than he had in years – he wasn’t upset about what they’d said, if anything it was the opposite, but there was a strange feeling in his chest, almost like loss.

He wiped his eyes furiously. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m crying.”

“It’s okay.” Phil stood up and walked over to where Tommy was sat, holding out his arms out. “Hug?”

Tommy laughed wetly and stood up, burying his face into the crook of Phil’s neck.

“Group hug!” Wilbur cheered and latched himself onto Tommy’s back, waving Techno over.

Techno joined them without complaint, wrapping his arms around all three of them. Tommy wasn’t sure how long they stood there for, but when they parted, his tears were long gone and a shaky smile had taken their place.

“I’m going to go call Tubbo.” He said, voice full of more confidence than he truly felt.

Wilbur apparently noticed. “We’ll be here if you need us.”

“I know.” Tommy said, and he did know; he was more confident in that than he was in almost everything else. “Thank you.”

He turned to go, dodging Wilbur’s attempt to ruffle his hair only to walk into Techno’s own attempt.

When he got to his room, he opened his messages with Tubbo and sighed – he really didn’t want to do it over text.

‘ _Facetime?’_

They hadn’t called with video since Tommy had left home, partially so he could hide the fact that he wasn’t home and partially because of the injuries that had still covered his face.

It only took about thirty seconds for Tubbo to respond – just enough time for Tommy to almost convince himself that he should just make something up.

‘ _Okay. I’ll call you.’_

His phone rang and he steadied his nerves, holding up his phone with his uninjured hand and answering it with the other.

“Hey Tubbo.” He caught his image in the corner of the screen and wrinkled his nose. “Wow, I’m a mess.”

“Well I wasn’t going to say it, but…” Tubbo’s face loaded on screen, a small smile covering an otherwise worried expression.

Tommy laughed and tried to straighten his hair somewhat, only succeeding in making it messier. “That’s so mean.”

“You’re the one that said it!” Tubbo’s smile suddenly turned into a frown. “Wait, where are you?”

Tommy scratched the back of his neck. “That’s kind of part of what I need to tell you.”

“Oh my God, have you been kidnapped?”

His nerves eased immediately and he grinned. “What the fuck? No, nothing as bad as that. Why would I call you if I got kidnapped?”

“I don’t know, because I’m your best friend and your hero?”

“Tubbo, you’re suggesting that if I get kidnapped, I should call you and not, like, the police?” Tommy furrowed his eyebrows. “Yeah, that seems smart.”

“I think I could probably save you.” Tubbo grinned at him and Tommy wondered why he’d ever considered not telling him the truth.

Tommy leaned back into his chair. “Thanks big man, I’ll keep it in mind.”

“So, what did you want to tell me?” Tubbo asked, and despite the casual tone to his voice Tommy could see the worry in his eyes.

“Uh,” Tommy rubbed his eyes before sitting up, “You know how Techno moved to England?”

“Yeah, I remember Twitter freaking out.”

Tommy took a deep breath – just because he wanted to tell Tubbo the truth, that didn’t make it easy to do. “I moved with him.”

“But you already lived in England.” Tubbo frowned at him and Tommy took pity on him; it probably wasn’t Tubbo had expected Tommy to tell him.

“I left my parents’ house and moved into Techno’s new one.”

“I feel like I’m missing something.” Tubbo admitted. “You moved in with Techno? Why?”

For some reason the idea of admitting to Tubbo that he got kicked out sent shame down his spine – Tubbo knew him probably better than anyone, easily looked past the image he put up, but Tommy still didn’t want to disappoint him.

But he knew Tubbo deserved the truth.

He sighed. “I got kicked out.”

He watched Tubbo’s face carefully, searching for any signs of disgust and feeling embarrassingly relieved when he found none. “Oh. _Oh._ Is that why we stopped face timing for a bit?”

Tubbo always had been more perceptive than he was given credit for. “Yeah, I’m sorry man. I just didn’t want to worry you.”

“Nah, don’t apologise.” Tubbo leaned forward suddenly. “You weren’t like, out on the streets, were you?”

Tommy shook his head. “I uh, I was kind of injured when I left and I wasn’t really thinking clearly? So I went to Brighton and ended up calling Wil. He let me stay with him while Techno found a place.”

“You were injured? Dude, your parents –“

Tommy interrupted him before he could get too worried. “It was mostly from kids from college.”

“No offense, but that doesn’t make it any better.” Tubbo sighed. “Are you okay now?”

“I’m as perfect as normal.”

Tubbo tilted his head. “Then why’s your hand bandaged.”

Of course Tubbo had noticed. Tubbo always noticed.

“Stupid accident this morning.”

“Promise?” Tubbo crossed his arms. “Because if Techno’s been pulling shit, I won’t hesitate to beat him up.”

Tommy laughed. “I promise. Although the idea of you fighting Techno is hilarious.”

“I’d do it.”

“I know you would.” Tommy could see the stupid fond smile he was wearing and tried to hide it with no avail. “Techno’s been good though, Wil and Phil too.”

Humming, Tubbo leaned back in his chair. “You guys always were like a family.”

“Yeah?” Tommy liked to think the same, but if Tubbo thought so, then it had to be true.

“Yeah.” Tubbo smiled at him and clapped his hands once. “So when can I come visit?”

“I’ll ask Techno. I think our place is only like, a half hour walk away.” He wasn’t going to tell Tubbo how that had been one of the first things he’d checked, along with how far away it was from Wilbur’s and Phil’s homes.

Tubbo hummed. “For the record, this is so much worse than if you’d been kidnapped.”

“Dude!” Surprised laughter escaped before he could stop it.

“I’m just saying, on like, a scale, being kidnapped is way lower.”

“You’re unbelievable.”

“Thank you.” Tubbo grinned.

“I meant it in a bad way.”

“No you didn’t.”

Tommy wasn’t about to admit that Tubbo was right but he suspected that the large grin on his face gave him away.

He should have known he had nothing to worry about from telling Tubbo. They spent the next hour catching each other up on the things they hadn’t had the chance to talk about and Tommy didn’t stop smiling the whole time, feeling lighter than he had in months. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a two chaptered fic, then I think I'll have one more part of the series and then it'll be complete? Idk, we'll see.
> 
> Thank you everyone for the enthusiasm for the first part of this series, it was a huge motivation to write this! I'm super pumped to continue this <3
> 
> Btw I finally made a Tumblr if you'd like to come chat [@piteouspeculiarity](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/piteouspeculiarity)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy gets a drunk phone call. The next day, Tommy and Tubbo meet up and it ends up being a bit more of an adventure than anyone had expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Minor violence, some additions to the tags, one or two mentions of blood but nothing descriptive, swearing + the general effects of child abuse.
> 
> Keep yourselves safe <3

Minutes after ending his call with Tubbo, Tommy walked back into the living room. “Hey guys.”

“Hey Tommy.” Phil said from where he was making coffee. “How’d it go?”

“Good, Tubbo was pretty excited about meeting up now that I live closer.” Tommy explained, not mentioning how he’d been just as enthusiastic about the idea.

Techno hummed. “You’re not busy tomorrow, are you? Tubbo can sleep over or something.”

Sitting down on the chair, Tommy grinned – he’d never been allowed to have a friend over before, nor had he wanted to have anyone come to his house.

“I’ve got a feeling that you just made a huge mistake Techno.” Wilbur laughed.

Techno’s eyebrows furrowed. “You’re not going to like, do drugs or something, right?”

Wheezing, Phil leaned on the kitchen counter for support. “Really Techno, you’re worried about those two doing drugs, _Tommy_ and _Tubbo_.”

“I don’t think they’d even know how.” Wilbur added, only making Phil laugh harder.

“We totally know how to do drugs.” Tommy frowned. “We just don’t need them. We can make enough trouble without them.”

“That I don’t doubt.” Phil said, walking over with his coffee and ruffling Tommy’s hair.

“I’m texting Tubbo.” Tommy announced. “He’s going to be so happy, I told him it might take days to convince you.”

Scoffing, Wilbur nudged him. “Don’t act like he’s the only one, you’re practically jumping in your seat with excitement.”

Sticking his tongue out at Wilbur, Tommy didn’t try to deny it, knowing they could all see straight through him, and focused on texting Tubbo.

_‘Techno says you can stay over tomorrow night.’_

_‘YES!!!’_

Tommy chuckled at the message, pulling his feet onto the chair to sit cross-legged. _‘We can go out for sleepover supplies around midday and then walk back to mine?’_

_‘Sounds good! This is going to be so fun!’_

He frowned when an incoming call stopped him from replying to Tubbo. It was from an unknown number and he hesitated in declining it, just in case it was important.

It ended before he could decide what to do, but just as he was about to move on and forget about the whole thing, his phone rang again – the same number.

Sighing, he pressed answer, holding his phone to his ear.

Beside him, Wilbur laughed. “Is that Tubbo?”

Tommy ignored him. “Hello? Who is this?”

There was silence on the other end and Tommy was promptly reminded of how much he hated answering calls from unknown numbers.

He was about to hang up when a slurred voice answered him. “Tom? Is that you?”

Tommy froze.

“Who is this?” He was kidding himself; he knew exactly who was on the other end of the phone, would recognise the voice anywhere. “How do you know my name?”

The voice gasped. “It is you! My little boy.”

“Mum.” He choked out, panic stealing his breath. “Why are you calling me?”

One of the first things they’d done when they’d gotten back to Wilbur’s apartment was to block both his parents’ numbers, so she had to be calling off someone else’s phone.

That meant she cared, right? She’d gone to the trouble of finding a different phone and she’d - she’d remembered his number, so that meant she had to care, at least a little.

Techno stood from where he’d been sat on the other chair. “Tommy, give me the phone.”

Tommy waved him away. If his mum was calling after almost a month, then she was probably calling to apologise or something and ask him to come home. He wouldn’t, of course, but he still wanted to hear what she had to say, wanted to know if there was some kind of hope for their relationship.

His dad would never love him, not with how often Tommy fucked up, but there were times when Tommy thought he had a chance of winning his mum over, of convincing her he was worth her time.

“Oh Tom, you’ve had your little rebellion, you can come home now sweetheart.” She was stumbling over her words. “Don’t you think you’ve been a bit dramatic about this all?”

“You’re drunk.” Tommy accused, pulling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his free arm around them.

That had to be the only reason she was saying that, she didn’t really think he was overreacting, she was just drunk.

He chanted the thought in his head. He’d _seen_ how different it was not living with his parents, how much nicer his life was, how well he was treated.

But then again, he hadn’t had it _that_ bad, had he?

His mum breathed heavily through the phone. “I saw your stream earlier, honey. You got so many donations, I’m so proud of you.”

See, she was proud of him, he’d done something right, he’d –

Ice cold realisation poured through him, freezing him in place.

He hadn’t noticed earlier, but it was the day of the month that he normally paid the bills. It was too much of a coincidence that his mum was calling him, drunk, on today of all days.

Fuck, how stupid could he get? Thinking he had finally earned his mother’s love when it was just the same as it always was – she wasn’t proud of _him_ , she didn’t love _him_ , she loved the money that he brought her.

His fingers itched to check his bank account. He knew he could easily pay the bills she wanted him to, knew it wouldn’t be too much of a loss. It wasn’t like he streamed for the money anyway, really, what was the harm in it?

He startled when the phone was snatched out of his hand.

“Phil, it’s fine.” He pleaded. “She just wants to talk.”

Phil nodded. “Then she can talk to me.”

He watched as Phil held the phone to his ear, anger darkening his face as he listened to whatever his mum was saying on the other end. God, Tommy would have given anything to hear it.

Techno sat next to Tommy, not touching but close enough that Tommy was comforted by the presence of the other.

“How _dare_ you.” Phil took a deep breath, clearly trying to contain his anger. “How dare you even try to say that when you call drunk out of your mind in the middle of the afternoon. “

There was a pause as his mum replied.

Tommy reached for Wilbur’s hand and Wilbur didn’t hesitate in taking his, squeezing it gently.

“If you call this number again, I will file for harassment.” Phil’s words were far calmer than Tommy would have expected from the anger radiating off him. “Tommy doesn’t need you in his life. You had your chance and you fucked it up, you don’t deserve him, neither of you do.”

Phil hung up, pressed a few buttons and then handed the phone back to Tommy. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that in front of you.”

“That’s okay.” Tommy said, somewhat disorientated. “What did she say?”

“Nothing you need to worry about.” Phil wiped a hand across his face, sighing. “I really am sorry; you shouldn’t have had to see that.”

Tommy shook his head, pushing away all the thoughts of his mum and all the disappointment and hurt that came with them and focusing on how Phil had just shown yet another glimpse at how badass he could be. “It was very cool.”

Wilbur laughed, squeezing his hand again. “Only you Tommy, only you.”

Tommy decided it didn’t matter that he’d never be good enough for his parents – it wasn’t their opinions he cared about, it was the opinions of the people around him that mattered.

And the three people around him seemed to think he was more than good enough.

  


“I’m leaving!” Tommy called out as he put on his shoe, stumbling a little. “Should be back in a couple of hours with Tubbo!”

Techno walked around the corner and leaned on the wall, crossing his arms. “I’m literally here, stop shouting.”

Grinning, Tommy shook his head. “But you’re so old, how will you hear me?”

“Brat.” Techno strode over and handed him his coat. “It’s supposed to get cold today.”

Tommy took it and put it on, feeling more warmed by Techno making sure he had his coat than the fabric itself.

“I don’t feel the cold.” Tommy pulled on the gloves that were handed to him, actions betraying his words. “Pretty sure that’s just old people.”

Techno hummed, ignoring him and placing hands on Tommy’s shoulders, face serious in a way that made Tommy’s grin fall. “Call me if you need anything, okay?”

A small smile replaced his grin – he wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to the way Techno would worry when he left the house alone. The other day he’d gone out to get milk without his phone and had come back to Techno practically pulling his hair out. “Got it. Tubbo’s going to be there, it’s not like anything’s going to happen. We’re just going to walk around a bit and get some snacks for tonight.”

He didn’t mention that they’d had the same conversation about six times already – hell, Techno was the one who’d given him money for the shop – instead, he revelled in the fact that he had someone to worry over him.

“Just no alleyways or I’ll tell Phil.” Techno retreated and Tommy was satisfied that he’d eased the other’s worry enough.

“I’m not stupid.” Tommy said, fake seriously. “I know to only go in the alleyways at night.”

Techno pulled him into a hug, arms pulling him tight against his chest. “I’ve changed my mind. You’re not allowed to leave the house, ever.”

Laughing, Tommy let him have his hug for a moment before pushing him away and walking to the door. “I’m going to be late if I don’t leave now, I’ll see you in a bit.”

He left, closing the door behind him before Techno could ask him more questions that would just lead to more worry.

Truthfully, he didn’t have far to walk; he and Tubbo had decided to meet up about fifteen minutes away from each of their houses. The closer he got, the more nervous he felt – which he knew was ridiculous when he was meeting _Tubbo_ of all people – and yet he had to stuff his gloved hands in his coat pocket to hide their shaking.

It was only yesterday that Tommy had told Tubbo about his whole situation and he couldn’t help but wonder if Tubbo would have changed his mind about being Tommy’s friend, or if it was just going to be awkward, or if –

“Tommy!”

Tommy’s head snapped up from where he’d been glaring at the floor as he walked, pausing in his step when he saw Tubbo before speeding up. Whatever reservations he had, it had been months since he’d last seen his best friend in real life and he refused to let his stupid thoughts get in the way of that.

“Tubbo!” They stopped in front of each other and Tommy would have killed for a hug but Tubbo was always the one that initiated hugs and for whatever reason he hadn’t. “It’s good to see you man, it’s been too long.”

“Yeah it has. We’ll have to meet up more often.” The ‘ _now you live closer_ ’ was silent and Tommy had to force himself to breathe past the way his chest tightened. In front of him, Tubbo shivered, rubbing his hands together. “God, it’s so fucking cold.”

Tommy rolled his eyes and started taking his gloves off. “You’re an idiot.”

“Hey, I’m wearing a coat!” Tubbo defended himself.

“Yeah but you know you get colder easily.” Tommy grinned to show he was joking. “Here, Techno forced me to wear them, my hands are fine.”

Tubbo backed away a few steps. “Oh no, I wasn’t trying to hint that you should give me your gloves.”

Tommy rolled his eyes again, shifting on his feet. “I know that, idiot. Just take them.”

“Thank you.” Smiling, Tubbo took them. “You know, you like to pretend you’re not, but you’re actually the nicest guy I know.”

“Shut up.” He rubbed the back of his injured hand, picking at the bandage. “I hate you.” He added for good measure.

Tubbo, the jerk, laughed at him. “Sure man. Come on, Tesco or Asda?”

“Please don’t tell me you’re the sort of person to shop at Tesco.” Tommy groaned dramatically and began walking in the general direction of Asda. “I might actually have to defriend you.”

“Defriend is not a word.”

“Everything’s a word if enough people say it is.”

Kicking a rock, Tubbo grinned. “You totally stole that from Wilbur.”

To be fair, Tommy had. “You never said if you were a dirty Tesco shopper.”

“I wouldn’t betray you like that, Big T.” Tubbo knocked his shoulder with Tommy’s before freezing and stepping a few steps away so they weren’t so close.

Tommy narrowed his eyes at the weird behaviour but decided not to say anything for the moment, if Tubbo needed to adjust to being around Tommy then that was fine.

He pushed away the hurt in his chest at how Tubbo didn’t want to be near him anymore. It was _fine._

Picking up a basket, they walked into the shop, heading straight to the back left where all the good stuff was.

Tommy put some biscuits into the basket Tubbo was carrying, grinning at how Tubbo just sighed when he saw them.

“Dude, you have a biscuit problem.” Tubbo pulled the basket away when Tommy tried to add another packet. “No more!”

Tommy laughed loudly, holding his hand to his ribs when they gave a small twinge of pain. “I disrespectfully disagree.”

“Don’t you mean you respectfully disagree?”

“Nope.” Tommy cheered when he managed to sneak another packet of biscuits in while Tubbo got distracted looking at drinks. “I mean, fuck you, you’re wrong.”

“Nothing respectful about that.”

“Exactly.”

“What drinks do you have at home?” Tubbo asked, still staring at the choices in front of them.

Tommy hummed, trying to both remember and hide the ridiculous smile at the thought of his house with Techno being home. “Techno bought like, a pack of twenty-four of coke the other day, so we should have some of that left. Uh, there’s milk? And water, obviously. Oh, and Techno has this weird mango juice.”

“So we should get energy drinks?”

“You know me so well.” Tommy looked between all the options. “Classic Red Bull or something that doesn’t taste like shit?”

Tubbo wrinkled his nose. “Red Bull sucks. Let’s just get a pack of Monsters.”

“Agreed.”

Tubbo took one from the shelf, nearly dropping the basket when he put it in. “Damn, that’s heavy.”

“It’s not heavy, you’re just weak.” Tommy teased. “Give it to me.”

He reached for the basket, frowning when Tubbo tore his hand away when it almost touched his own. He had to bite his lip to stop himself from saying something, staring at the basket.

His chest was tight again and he shook himself, desperate to clear the tension that had appeared – he was just grateful that Tubbo wanted to spend time with him, nothing else mattered. “We’ve got snacks and drinks; do we need anything else?”

“I don’t think so.” Tubbo replied with a smile, but Tommy could still see the way his shoulders were hunched and his fists clenched by his side.

They walked to the self-service area but Tubbo got distracted when they went past an aisle and Tommy followed him with a sigh that he refused to acknowledge as fond.

“What did you see?” He asked when he finally caught up to his friend.

Tubbo pointed. “Look.”

“Yeah, hair dye, I see that.” Rows and rows of colours lined his vision. “Not sure why we’re here unless you’re planning on going blond.”

“You should dye your hair.”

Tommy huffed. “Why the fuck would I do that?”

“Because you’re already blond, so it’s easy to do.” Tubbo said, and Tommy could see he was doing the thing where he latched onto an idea and got really excited about it.

“That’s horrible reasoning.” Tommy tried to convince Tubbo and resisted facepalming when he saw just how little it was working. “Just because you can do something it doesn’t mean you should.”

Tubbo glanced at him. “That’s surprisingly good advice from you.”

“I always give good advice. Which is exactly why we should leave this aisle now, before –“

“Nope. You’re blond. You have to.”

Tommy did facepalm that time. “Please tell me you’re not being serious. I’m not even that blond, you may as well be forcing Techno to dye his hair.”

Tubbo lit up and Tommy knew he’d made a mistake. Why did everyone think he was the chaotic one that got them into trouble?

“We should prank Technoblade.”

“We should absolutely not do that Tubbo, have you gone mad?” Tommy shook his head. “No, I refuse to be a part of this.”

“Come on, it’ll be hilarious.” Tubbo shifted his gaze back to the hair dye. “I’m thinking hot pink.”

“It’s literally just going to make him ginger.”

“That’s just as funny.”

Hiding the basket behind his back, Tommy groaned. “Maybe when you don’t have to live with the guy. He’s going to be so pissed.”

Tubbo paused in his bouncing. “Is he?”

“No.” Tommy admitted. “I don’t think anything makes Techno pissed.”

Tubbo grinned. “Then it’s fine.”

Tommy faltered at the sight of his grin – all the tenseness from earlier was gone and if this was going to be something that kept Tubbo happy, then he’d suffer the consequences. “Fine, but if Techno murders me because of this, it’s your fault.”

“Deal.”

Tubbo picked out what had to be the most expensive hair dye on the shelf and put it in the basket, saying something about the best brand, but Tommy had no idea how Tubbo even knew that and was half sure he was making it up.

Tommy paid for their stuff before Tubbo could get his money out of his pocket, mumbling something about it being Techno’s money, and showed the attendant his ID when she asked for it.

He and Tubbo reached for the bags at the same time and Tubbo’s hand flew back like he’d been electrocuted when he touched Tommy’s.

An irrational anger burned in Tommy and he pushed it down, knowing it was just because he was hurt by Tubbo’s actions and not wanting his friend to feel guilty for it. He breathed deeply and picked up the bags.

They left the shop in silence and when Tubbo took a pointed step away from him on the path, Tommy couldn’t hold back his words anymore.

“Dude, what the fuck is going on?”

“I’m sorry –“

They spoke at the same time, stumbling over their words. Tommy gestured for Tubbo to speak but didn’t look at him.

“I’m sorry, I know you don’t like touch and I keep messing up.” Tubbo said and his voice was so small that Tommy couldn’t help but look at him with concern, only more confused by his words.

It wasn’t like he was the most affectionate person in the world, but he didn’t remember doing anything that would make Tubbo think he didn’t like touch at all. “Where’d you get that idea from?”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tubbo shift awkwardly on his feet. “Uh, Google.”

“Tubbo, please tell me you know what you just said makes zero sense.”

“No, look, I just –“ Tubbo sighed. “You’re not allowed to be mad, okay?”

Tommy narrowed his eyes. “Why would I be mad?”

“I don’t know, you just might.”

“Okay, sure, I promise, whatever. Just tell me what’s going on.”

“After our call yesterday, I did some research.” Tubbo started. “I didn’t want to like, make you uncomfortable, you know?”

Tommy felt something heavy settle in his stomach. “I’m not sure I understand.”

“Well, I knew there are supposed to be triggers, or something? And I didn’t want to say or do something that would upset you, so I researched it.”

Tommy was pretty sure he’d forgotten how to breathe. “Oh.”

_Of course_. Of course the first thing Tubbo had done after Tommy had told him everything was research how to help him – that was, that was such a fucking Tubbo thing to do.

Tubbo didn’t hate him, or not want to be near him, or any of that other bullshit. Tubbo was just trying, and succeeding, to be the best damn friend Tommy had ever had.

“But I still keep messing up and I promise I’m trying to stop because I know –“

He was cut off by Tommy bringing him a hug, slightly awkward with the bags still in his hand, but everything he’d wanted since he’d first seen Tubbo that morning and more than enough to give him the words to finally talk again.

“You’re an idiot.” Tommy sniffed, trying to keep the stupid tears at bay. He refused to cry at midmorning outside an Asda – he would not become that person. “And you need to stop Googling things.”

Tubbo’s arms wrapped around him slowly, hugging him tighter when Tommy didn’t immediately pull away. “This is okay?”

“Yeah man.” Tommy took a deep breath, taking strength from the way Tubbo still hadn’t left. “I’m not saying that everything you found is wrong, but just ask, you know? Way less awkward.”

Tubbo’s reply was hesitant. “You’re sure?”

“I’m sure. I’m not going to have a breakdown or something because you asked an uncomfortable question.” He pulled back from the hug, trying to hide the way he wiped at his eyes.

Tubbo wiped his eyes as well. “Can I ask some now?”

A fond smile forced its way onto Tommy’s face – it was so typical of Tubbo to want as much knowledge as he could get. “Go ahead.”

“So hugs and stuff are okay?”

Tommy scratched the back of his neck, realising all at once just how hard it might be to answer some of Tubbo’s questions, but determined to give his friend the answers he needed so he’d stop worrying so much about every little thing.

“Yeah, mostly.” He forced himself to be completely honest. “I’m uh – I can get a little surprised if I don’t see it coming, I guess? But like, hugs are cool.”

Tubbo nodded. “Okay. What about loud noises?”

“You’re seriously asking _me_ if I have a problem with loud noises?” Tommy smiled, Tubbo did not.

“Yes.”

Tommy sighed, smile dropping. “Not really. Only if I’m like, super stressed already, if that makes sense?”

“Is there anything that you want me to like, not talk about at all?” Tubbo asked.

Tommy made himself think about the question but it all came back to the same answer. “No, I trust you.”

Tubbo punched his shoulder softly and Tommy grinned. “Not helpful.”

“What? It’s true.”

Tubbo laughed, finally. “Whatever you say.”

“Are those all your questions?”

“For now.” Tubbo glanced at Tommy. “Although I do want to hear more about living with Technoblade. Like, how does that even happen?”

Tommy laughed; it did seem kind of outlandish. “Hell if I know.”

“No, I want the story.” Tubbo said. “Besides, I can tell that you want to ask me something about it.”

“No I don’t.” One day, the extent that Tubbo knew him was going to get annoying.

Tubbo rolled his eyes at him. “Just tell the story, I know you want to.”

He hated that Tubbo was right – he hadn’t had the chance to talk through everything that had happened yet, everyone that knew had been there for it, and in some ways he still wasn’t sure he wasn’t just in the middle of a long, strange dream.

“I went to Brighton when I was kicked out, I told you that yesterday right?” Tommy started, not wanting to talk about being punched by his dad.

“Yeah, you mentioned it.”

“Right, so I took the train to Brighton and called Wil, but Phil and Techno were with him, so they all came and picked me up and took me to Wil’s apartment.” Tommy picked at the bandage on his hand. “Techno helped me clean up and then I fell asleep on Wil’s couch.”

“He helped you clean up?” Tubbo asked, confused.

“Blood.” Tommy said shortly, not wanting to give Tubbo too many details. “Anyway, the next day, we all drove up to London so I could pick up my stuff, but, like, my dad was home, so he wasn’t too happy that I’d come back, you know?”

“Right.” Tubbo said, as if he definitely did not know. Tommy was glad for that.

“But Phil turned into some kind of badass right? And told my dad off, and then Wilbur joined in and we were let in the house. Techno and I went to get my stuff and when we came back down my mum was home. When we went to leave my dad was saying some, uh, less nice things and that’s when –“

His own laughing cut him off and he waved away Tubbo’s confused look.

“That’s when Techno fucking decked my dad.”

Tubbo gasped, a startled laugh coming out. “No way.”

“Yes way. I didn’t see it, but I heard it, and holy shit Tubbo, he just walked out the room like it was nothing.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah.” Tommy took a moment to appreciate the memory. “We went back to Wil’s house and uh, that’s when it got weird, I guess?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, they sat me down, and then they all, like, offered me a place to stay.”

Tubbo frowned. “What’s weird about that? They all care about you, it’s obvious, it really is like you’re a family.”

“I don’t know, it was just, unexpected?” Tommy shook his head to clear his thoughts. “Anyway, I chose Techno and then we picked out a whole house together.”

“Cool.” Tubbo smiled. “Does he snore?”

“Tubbo I don’t think the guy even sleeps.”

“Cool.” Tubbo repeated with a grin.

Tommy couldn’t help but grin back. Speaking with Tubbo about everything was far easier than he had imagined and it was made even easier by the way Tubbo wasn’t being weird about any of it – Tommy wasn’t sure he’d be able to deal with it if Tubbo started.

Fuck, Tubbo really was the best friend he could ask for.

A shout caught his attention and he felt all the tension that had left his body return, head swivelling to find who had made the noise. Beside him, Tubbo made a confused noise but Tommy ignored him, still looking for the culprit.

“Oi! Tommy!” There. A group of boys were on the path to the left of them, waving to catch his attention.

Tommy backed up a few steps, pulling on Tubbo’s sleeve to make sure he did the same.

“Tubbo, we have to run, okay?”

Tommy recognised them – not the people themselves, but the sort of people they were. Teenagers, usually a little older than him, that would recognise him and decide to take out their jealousy on him, as if it were his fault that they’d had little to no success in their short lives.

They were different than the fans that would just want a picture, it was obvious in the way they were strutting towards him and Tubbo, smirking and pushing at each other.

The last time Tommy had doubted his instincts, he’d ended up with bruised ribs – he wasn’t about to risk that happening to Tubbo.

Tubbo went with the pull but didn’t start running like Tommy had hoped. “What do you mean? They’re probably just fans.”

“Fans that want to beat us up.” Tommy turned around now, back to the teenagers and made sure Tubbo did the same. “Come on, if we’re lucky they’ll just ignore us.”

The same teenager called out again and Tommy thought he had to be the leader of the group. “Is that your little friend, Tubbo? Come on, don’t be selfish, we just want to talk.”

The whole group laughed and Tommy swore. Tubbo was in danger because of him.

No one wanted to beat up Tubbo, not when he wasn’t with Tommy. It was Tommy’s annoying personality that made him the perfect target and now he’d forced Tubbo to stand by his side and get hurt too.

He heard the footsteps behind them speed up and a quick glance only confirmed what he already knew, the group was jogging towards them.

Fuck. Where were they even supposed to run to? They couldn’t run home, even though they were near, in case the others were able to follow them all the way and find out his address – Techno would be so mad.

With another muttered swear he started sprinting, pulling on Tubbo to force him to run with him, slowing down his pace a little to allow his friend to keep up with him. The where didn’t matter yet, they just needed to get away from the group before they caught up.

The group that was running after them.

“Tommy,” Tubbo breathed out harshly, “I’ve never been particularly athletic, I don’t know how long I’ll be able to run for.”

Tommy’s mind raced. They could split up, but there was the chance that some of the group would still go after Tubbo, and he couldn’t risk that.

His phone was a heavy weight in his pocket.

Techno had said to call him if he needed anything, but he probably meant if they had a problem choosing what sort of food they wanted, not if they were being chased by a group of teenagers.

But hell, Tubbo was in trouble, and Tommy was willing to deal with Techno’s anger later if it meant his friend was safe now.

He could see Tubbo tiring by his side, slowing down. He looked behind him, counting the teenagers, there were only three of them and only one of them looked to be taller than Tommy.

Pulling his phone out of his pocket and pressing it into Tubbo’s hand along with the bags of shopping, Tommy tried to grin. There was only one way to make sure Tubbo escaped the situation unharmed. “You know my password. Call Techno, the house is nearby and he should pick you up.”

“Us up.” Tubbo said forcefully. “He’s going to pick _us_ up.”

It would have worked better if Tubbo wasn’t struggling to breathe. “Keep running, I’ll distract them while you call him. They’ll probably scatter if they see an adult, but at this rate they’re going to catch up with us and beat us both up before Techno even gets in the car.”

“I’m slower.” Tubbo said. “Let me be the distraction.”

“You’re also out of breath and have no experience fighting.” Tommy supplied. “At least I have some sort of chance of holding my own.”

“Bullshit.” Tubbo panted. “That’s absolute bullshit.”

Tommy grinned. “Yeah, it kind of is.”

He didn’t wait for a reply and turned around, sprinting towards the group and catching them off guard for a moment.

“Alright fellas.” Tommy kept his grin in place despite the pounding of his heart in his chest. “What was it you wanted to talk about?”

The guy in front of him didn’t bother replying before throwing a punch, which was quite frankly, rude – he could at least keep up the pretence for a little longer, let Tubbo get a little further away.

Grin falling, Tommy ducked under the fist, not trying to fight back yet – he didn’t want them to have the opportunity to try to pin the blame on him if they were the only one with injuries.

“Where’s the little bitch going?” One of the others asked, looking behind Tommy.

Rage kept clenched his fists by his side as Tommy moved to stand in front of their eyeline. “He’s not the one you have to worry about, fucker.”

Fuck getting into trouble, he’d never exactly been known as the most rational person on the internet.

He tried to punch the teenager, aiming for his nose but hitting his cheek instead, ducking under another fist that came towards his own face. He was pushed from behind and he stumbled forward, trying to turn to keep them all in his sight.

His hand hurt from the contact and he remembered that he was already injured, the burn from the day before aching.

“What’s your problem?” Tommy panted, the running and fighting catching up to him. “Can’t a man go for a walk with his friend?”

The one he’d identified as the leader stepped forward and Tommy stepped back. “Not when they’re annoying pieces of shit.”

Tommy laughed. “Wow, is that really the best you could come up with? Go on, let out all that baby rage.”

“Shut the fuck up.” The teenager growled out.

Eyes widening, Tommy’s reply halted in his throat when he saw a figure running towards them over the guy’s shoulder – a familiar, short _idiot._

He’d _told_ Tubbo to run away and call Techno, what the fuck was he doing coming back?

The teenager started to turn to see what had distracted Tommy and Tommy hurried to distract him, aiming a punch at his stomach and wincing when it made contact. It felt like the guy was built like a brick wall.

It had worked though, he stopped turning before he could see Tubbo. Even if Tommy was only delaying the inevitable, because Tubbo was still running towards them, like the complete and utter fool he was.

Tommy had been doing well, he’d hit two of them and they hadn’t managed to hit him once – and sure, maybe that was just because he’d caught them off guard, and yeah, okay, maybe he was getting tired, but that didn’t mean Tubbo should be putting himself in danger just to try and help Tommy win a fight.

A fight that Tommy was perfectly capable of winning by himself.

The leader laughed at him and Tommy tilted his head, confused; he was pretty sure being hit didn’t warrant laughter.

“You’re so weak I barely felt that, holy shit.” The guy laughed a little more. “Not sure what I expected from a nerd that sits at a computer all day, but I thought you’d have more strength than a toddler.”

“You’re the one that knows who I am.” Tommy snarked. “I’m not the only nerd here.”

He watched warily as the other two moved to stand on each of his sides, trying to back away further and silently cursing when he met a wall – he hadn’t realised he’d gone that far already.

The teenager threw a punch at him and this time Tommy had no space to duck or move out of the way so all he could do was stand and wince as it made contact with his chest. He tried to punch back but suddenly the two at his side leapt forward and held his arms against the wall, making panic seep into him.

He struggled against the hands, trying to kick out but not quite being able to reach.

“Hey!” Tubbo called out, and Tommy could hear the nerves shaking his voice. “How about we make this fight a little fairer?”

Tommy took advantage of their distraction, wrenching his right arm away and using it to punch the guy holding his left arm. “Tubbo, get away from here!”

He looked and Tubbo was holding his fists up in front of him, looking almost comically small compared to the others.

“Not without you!” Tubbo called back and Tommy panicked, seeing how separated they were, Tubbo on the complete opposite side of the fight, facing the guy that had held down Tommy’s right arm. “Backup is on its way.”

Tubbo was an idiot, a brainless, dumb, _idiot_ who was still holding up his fists as if he knew what to do with them but Tommy couldn’t help the warmth that spread in his chest at the words.

He laughed, strained and fake. “You hear that? There’s back up on the way, the one and only Technoblade is coming to fuck you up!”

He laughed a little brighter when he saw them exchange nervous looks. “Oh, so you’ve heard of him too?”

“Shut up.” The leader said. “As if he’d actually come to help someone like you.”

Tommy sighed, ignoring the sting of the words. “Has anyone ever told you how unoriginal you sound? If you’re going to make it in the bully industry, you’re going to need to be a little more creative than that.”

“Yeah,” Tubbo agreed, “we could give you lessons, if you’d like?”

“I’ve had enough of talking.” The leader said, and threw himself at Tommy, fists raised.

It caught him off guard and he was a little slow in ducking, catching the edge of a fist to his ear. Shaking off the disorientation, he pushed the guy away, rushing to block the hit that was aimed at Tubbo but only managing to take it in his own stomach.

They stood back to back as they were surrounded again, and Tommy was no longer able to focus on protecting Tubbo when two of them tried to attack Tommy at once. He stuck out his foot, tripping one of them up, and successfully blocked the punch that was thrown from the other.

He heard flesh meeting flesh and could only hope that Tubbo had managed to punch his opponent instead of getting punched himself.

He was getting ready to try to force Tubbo to run away again when he heard a deep voice to the side. “You’ll stop now if you don’t want to find out why I chose the name Technoblade.”

Techno was standing tall, twirling something in his right hand, left hand hanging by his side, anger clouding his expression to the point that even Tommy shrunk back against Tubbo, unsure if he’d contributed to it.

The three looked at each other, weighing their options before apparently deciding they didn’t want a fair fight and speeding away not a second later.

Tommy ignored Techno for the moment, rushing to stand in front of Tubbo and searching his face for injuries.

“I heard someone get hit.” Tommy said, not able to see any obvious injuries but not quite able to believe that Tubbo had hit someone and far too close to forcing his friend to take his shirt off in the middle of the street so Tommy could check for injuries.

Tubbo grinned, holding up his fist. “I hit him.”

Tommy breathed a sigh of relief, frowning at how red Tubbo’s fist was but beyond glad that it wasn’t worse. “You’re an idiot and I hate you.”

“You’re welcome.” Tubbo’s grin widened.

Tommy could still feel the adrenaline coursing through him but Tubbo was there in front of him, safe and grinning and Tommy couldn’t stop himself from bringing Tubbo into a hug, wrapping his arms around his friend’s shoulders and holding him tight against his chest. “Thank you.”

“Come on you two.” Techno said, and Tommy released Tubbo to look at the man, studying his face. “Let’s get you into the car.”

Most of the anger had slipped off his face, but there was a tightness to his mouth that betrayed how he was really feeling.

Tommy glanced down and saw Techno was holding a stick in his hand, far less intimidating now that he was closer. “Seriously, a stick?”

“Anything is a weapon if you know how to use it.” Techno said. “Besides, it worked, didn’t it?”

Tommy nodded, giving in easily.

He wrung his hands. “Techno, I –“

“I’m not mad.” Techno interrupted, shaking his head. “Not at you two.”

Tubbo looked in between them curiously before perking up. “Hold on, let me go grab the bags where I left them.”

Tommy watched as he jogged down the road, reaching into a bush and pulling out their shopping.

While he was gone, Techno stepped a little closer to Tommy, voice low. “Are either of you hurt?”

“Tubbo’s hand looked red.” Tommy said. “I’m fine.”

“Fine as in uninjured or fine as in bruised ribs?”

Tubbo walked up to them. “He got hit like, three times.”

“Snitch.”

“Best friend.” Tubbo corrected. “Your hands looked pretty fucked as well, now that I think about it.”

Tommy glared at him but had to turn to face Techno to hide his smile. It was nice, seeing how Tubbo really did care about him.

“Thank you Tubbo.” Techno said, walking over to his car and gesturing for them to follow him. “It’s nice to know that _someone_ is capable of telling the truth.”

“Sure thing Sir Blade.” Tubbo said cheerfully, as if they hadn’t been on the verge of being beaten up not five minutes ago.

They got in the car and Tommy scrunched his nose up. “Sir Blade? Really? Did he make you call him that?”

“I did not.” Techno said. “I have in fact, asked him to not call me that.”

“My bad.” Tubbo said. “It won’t happen again Sir Blade, I promise.”

Techno huffed, starting the engine. “This is why I don’t hang out with teenagers: I just get bullied.”

“Yeah Tubbo, stop treating Techno with so much respect, he’s getting upset.”

Tubbo laughed, pushing the hair off his face.

They bickered the whole journey and soon enough they had parked next to two awfully familiar cars.

Tommy hummed. “I didn’t know Phil and Wil were coming over today.”

Techno got out of the car, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah, that might be my fault.”

Before he could explain, the front door flew open and Wilbur rushed out of the house, Phil hot on his heels. “Techno, you cannot call me to say that the children have gotten into a fight and then hang up. That is not okay.”

Wilbur rushed up to Tommy and Tubbo, putting a hand onto each of their shoulders and studying each of their faces before sighing and bringing them both into a hug.

“Is everyone okay?” Phil asked.

Tommy smiled at him over Wilbur’s shoulder. “I’m fine Phil.”

“He’s lying Mr Minecraft.” Tubbo added. “He’s injured.”

Tommy poked him in the side, still being hugged by Wilbur. “I am not injured.”

“Yes he is Mr Minecraft.”

“Now, now, who do you trust Phil, me, your loyal friend, or _Tubbo_?”

Phil didn’t even pretend to think about it. “Definitely Tubbo.”

Wilbur pulled away, moving to keep an arm around each of them. “I’d have to agree with him there, sorry Tommy.”

They all walked into the house and Techno went to get the first aid kit for the second time in as many days. Wilbur sat with him and Tubbo on the couch, frowning when he saw Tommy’s unbandaged hand and taking it in his own.

“You really did get into a fight?”

Tommy nodded, taking his hand back to stare curiously at the blood on his knuckles – he hadn’t noticed he was bleeding. “Yeah, some guys weren’t too happy that I exist. We won though.”

“I don’t think we did.” Tubbo said, very unhelpfully.

Techno came back into the room. “Tubbo’s right, you guys were about to get fucked up. We should really get you some self-defence lessons.”

Standing next to the doorway, Phil nodded. “That’s not a bad idea. I’ll talk to your parents Tubbo, see if we can arrange something.”

“That would be cool.” Tubbo said. “Then we can beat people up in real life too.”

Tommy grinned at him. “We can rule the streets of Brighton.”

“And then the world.” Tubbo grinned back and Tommy wheezed, almost falling off the chair.

Techno sat on the coffee table and held out his hand to Tommy, who shook his head. “Tubbo first. He might have broken his hand.”

“Your logic is incredibly flawed.” Tubbo said but held his hand out to Techno anyway.

“You’re incredibly flawed.” Tommy frowned. “Actually, that was meaner than I intended.”

Phil laughed at him and Tubbo rolled his eyes.

“It might bruise a little but you’re fine.” Techno said, giving Tubbo his hand back. “But I think we all knew that.”

Wilbur laughed. “Yeah, Tommy’s just a mother hen.”

“I am not.” Tommy defended. “See if I care about your hand next time Tubbo. Besides, you can’t talk Wil, not with your reaction when we came home.”

Sniffing, Wilbur looked up at the ceiling. “I had good reason to be worried.”

“So did I, Tubbo’s hand was red!”

“You’re literally bleeding!” Wilbur exclaimed.

“Blood is red!”

Wilbur scoffed, leaning back against the chair. “Congratulations on knowing colours, dipshit.”

“Okay children, why don’t we let Techno actually look at Tommy’s hands?” Phil interrupted, sharing a grin with Tubbo.

Tommy held out his hands reluctantly, still glaring at Wilbur.

“Ow.” Whatever Techno was wiping his knuckles with stung.

Techno unwrapped the bandage on his burnt hand. “Sorry, there’s nothing I can do to make it hurt less.”

“It doesn’t hurt.” Tommy lied.

“Liar.” Of course, Tubbo was the one to call him out on his bullshit.

“Bitch.” Tommy responded, instantly winning the argument.

He watched as Techno checked his burnt hand and put some more cream on it before rewrapping it.

Techno stood and walked over to the kitchen, opening the freezer and getting out an ice pack and handing it to Tommy. “Keep that on your other hand if you don’t want it to get swollen.”

“Thanks, big man.” Tommy moved to stand up from the couch. “Come on Tubbo, let’s –“

Techno placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him from getting up. “Nope, you haven’t shown me where you got punched yet.”

“Stop being dramatic, I’m fine.” Tommy whined with a glance at Tubbo, not wanting to do this in front of his friend.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Tubbo, far from it, but there were certain things he didn’t want his friend to see, and him injured was one of them.

Phil seemed to understand the issue he was having. “Do you mind helping me with something for a minute, Tubbo? I’ve been having trouble with deciding something.”

“Sure.” Tubbo got up from the couch and followed Phil to the guest bedroom, but not without sending Tommy a knowing look, which Tommy responded to with a middle finger.

Wilbur raised an eyebrow. “Well?”

“I got punched on the cheek, but uh,” He raised a hand to poke it and check, “It doesn’t hurt, so I think it’s fine. And I, uh, got punched in the stomach and chest, but they don’t hurt super bad, not like last time.”

Techno nodded. “I’d still like to check, please?”

Tommy bit his lip but raised his shirt anyway, looking down at himself. There were two bright red marks, but apart from that, everything looked normal.

“It looks fine for now, but we’ll keep an eye on it.” Techno said. “Let me know if anything hurts more than you’d expect it to.”

Tommy nodded and lowered his shirt again, staring down at his hands. “Listen, about earlier. I’m sorry that I called you and interrupted your day, but Tubbo was in trouble and we couldn’t run forever and I didn’t want to lead them back to the house, you know?”

He was breathing faster now and refused to look up at Techno.

“I’m glad you got Tubbo to call me.” Techno said, reaching out slowly to uncurl Tommy’s hands. “I’d always rather you call me if you think there might be trouble.”

“And if for whatever reason Techno doesn’t answer, Phil and I are always going to want to help as well.” Wilbur pulled Tommy into his side. “You’ve got us now, whether you like it or not, we’re going to be here to annoy you and keep you safe. That’s what families do.”

Tommy didn’t think he was close to crying, but when he opened his mouth to speak, he choked on the tears in his throat and shook his head, leaning into Wilbur more instead of trying to respond.

A family.

A loud teenager, a musician, a man who could literally scare people away with a single look and a thirty-two-year-old: they were possibly the strangest family Tommy had heard of, but they were also without a doubt the best.

Techno stood up and ruffled his hair with a small smile, closing the first aid kit and leaving the room.

Beside him, Wilbur sighed. “You okay, Toms?”

“Huh?” Wilbur had literally watched as Techno checked his injuries; he should know Tommy was fine.

“You went out to meet Tubbo and ended up being attacked, that can’t have been all that fun.”

Tommy snorted. “Not exactly, but we had fun before it happened and then you just said – I mean, the good outweighs the bad prettily heavily.”

“Weirdo, that is not the normal reaction to being beaten up.”

Shrugging, Tommy stood up, stretching his arms above his head. “Guess I’m just cooler than you.”

“True.” Tubbo said, walking into the room, Phil behind him. “Tommy is indeed cooler than you.”

“Traitor.” Wilbur scoffed. “Phil, come on, stick up for me here.”

Phil groaned. “Please do not ask me to choose a favourite child because it will be none of you.”

Techno came back in. “We all know that I’m the favourite child.”

Burying his face in his hands, Phil fought to speak through his laughter. “I’m disowning you all.”

“Whatever you say Phil.” Tommy grinned and tugged on Tubbo’s arm to drag him out the room, grabbing their shopping off the floor with his other hand. “Come on Tubbo, I want to show you my room.”

“I saw your room yesterday.”

“No, you saw an image of my room yesterday.” Tommy shook his head, mock disappointed. “A room is more than that Tubbo, it’s an experience.”

Tubbo nodded. “You’re so right, I apologise for making such a grievous error in judgement.”

“As you should.” Tommy opened the door to his room. “Welcome to the gamer room.”

“That’s so cringe.” Tubbo walked around his room. “Okay, it’s a room.”

Gasping, Tommy pressed a hand to his heart. “I can’t believe you’d say something so disrespectful, that’s incredibly rude of you.”

Tubbo sat down in front of the computer, spinning around in the chair. “I don’t know what to say man, it’s a room, it has walls and windows and a bed.”

“You’re such a dick.” Tommy threw himself face down onto his bed.

Tubbo laughed. “Seriously though, it’s pretty cool. Techno paid for all this?”

“Most of it.” Tommy said, rolling over so he could see Tubbo. “Phil insisted on paying for some of it.”

“They seem nice. I mean, I know we talk all the time online, but it’s good to see they’re the same people.”

Humming, Tommy placed his hands behind his head. “I’d forgotten you hadn’t met them yet. They are though, nice – even if Wil can be a bit of a dick sometimes.”

“I’m glad. You deserve people like them.”

Tommy threw a pillow at Tubbo. “Stop saying nice things.”

Tubbo caught it and threw it back, but his aim was severely off and hit the wall a couple metres away instead. “Oops.”

“You’re so shit.” Tommy laughed and threw a second pillow at Tubbo, laughing harder when it fell to the floor after hitting him in the face.

Tubbo laughed as well, almost falling off the chair from the force of it, and if Tommy didn’t stop smiling for the rest of the night, that was his own business.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies that this one is more Tubbo and Tommy focused instead of the family dynamics this series was supposed to be focused on. I started writing and seven thousand words later I still hadn't gotten to the main part of the chapter, so I stuck with it and made this it's own chapter. Promise I'll make up for it in the next one! 
> 
> Speaking of, chapter three is mostly written and is pure sbi, so there shouldn't be too much of a wait to get the stuff that you guys actually want to read <3 I'll either finish it tonight and post it tomorrow, or it'll take me a couple of days, but I don't imagine it taking longer than Wednesday. (Sick fic anyone?)
> 
> I have a terrible feeling that this has a ton of mistakes in it, but that's what you get when you post at three am. 
> 
> Thank you for your continued support on these fics, I'm constantly amazed by this fandom and how great you all are! I can be super awkward when I reply to comments, but please know I see you and I appreciate every one of you <3
> 
> Also, come find me on Tumblr @piteouspeculiarity (the same as here). It's the only place where I post updates on when I'll be posting, if you're interested, or we can scream together about the family dynamics of sbi : )


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy knows that his day is ruined when he wakes up sick, knows that days that he is sick and has to sit by himself for hours are the worst. What he doesn't predict is how having a family can make those days so much better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: This is a sick fic (a fic where there is someone who is sick) and includes vague descriptions of vomiting, swearing, effects of child abuse and thoughts of low self worth. 
> 
> Keep yourselves safe <3

When Tommy woke up a few days later, he knew that his day wasn’t going to be a good one. It was only when he rushed to the bathroom half a minute later that he realised just how bad it was going to be.

He didn’t get sick very often or ever for very long but when he did it fucking sucked, always seemingly coming out of nowhere and leaving him completely incapacitated the whole time.

The main problem was that whenever he’d been ill before, his parents had never believed him.

It wasn’t like they’d be horrible about it, but they’d raise an eyebrow when he told them he wasn’t able to go to college and would never check on him throughout the day – which was fine, he was perfectly capable of looking after himself, but it was those days that he found himself close to tears because it was so obvious that his parents just didn’t give a shit about him.

But he didn’t live with his parents anymore, he lived with Techno, and he had no idea how the man would react.

His parents had never forced him to go to college when he said he was ill, clearly thinking it to be too much work, but would Techno?

He supposed he’d only know if he asked.

He brushed his teeth to rid himself from the awful taste in his mouth, having to hold on to the sink with his free hand to keep himself up. Stumbling out of the bathroom, he threw on a hoodie before walking out of his room and down to the kitchen where Techno was making coffee.

“Hey Toms.” Techno said without turning around. “What do you want for breakfast?”

Tommy stood in silence, trying to find the right words to convince Techno that he really was ill, that he wasn’t lying.

He had a headache, and he’d thrown up, and he knew he’d be throwing up again and soon but he also knew from experience that that wasn’t enough to prove that he was really sick.

“I feel sick.” Tommy crossed his arms over his stomach. “I threw up and I have a headache and I – I just feel sick.”

Techno walked over to him and Tommy prepared to argue his way into staying home for the day.

Standing in front of him, Techno raised the back of his hand to Tommy’s forehead. Tommy swallowed harshly, knowing that he probably wasn’t warm enough to warrant concern and wishing that he was so he’d at least be able to convince Techno.

“I don’t think you have a fever at least, but I’ll have to check with a thermometer to be sure.” Techno moved away. “Do you think you’ll be able to keep anything down or do you want to go back to bed?”

Tommy wasn’t sure he wasn’t hearing things. “Go back to bed?”

“Yeah, you look about ready to pass out. I’ll call your college and let them know you’ll need today off.”

He was exhausted, maybe that’s why he was imagining what Techno was saying, maybe he was hallucinating or something.

Techno had said he would call his college, but Tommy had already mentally drafted the awkward emails he’d send to his teachers to explain his absence.

He sniffed, which was strange, because he hadn’t had a runny nose when he’d been noting his symptoms. Even stranger were the tears in his eyes.

Fuck, he really must be sick if he was crying just because Techno had offered to call his college for him.

He wiped at his eyes, sniffing again. “You have the number?”

“It’s saved in my phone.” Techno reassured. “Go and get in bed, I’ll be there in a moment with some painkillers and a drink. Do you think you’re going to throw up again?”

Tommy nodded mutely. He was so confused.

He’d expected that Techno’s reaction would differ from his parents’, but he hadn’t expected anything like this kind of genuine care.

He was steered out of the kitchen and he shuffled up the stairs to his room, sitting on his bed and pulling his knees to his chest.

His head hurt and trying to figure out what was happening just made it hurt more, so he gave up, resting his chin on his knees and focusing on trying to stop the tears. He didn’t even know why he was crying – he just felt like shit and Techno was being nice to him and Tommy staying home hadn’t even been questioned and –

There was a knock on his door.

“Come in.” Tommy called out weakly.

That was another thing Techno did, Wil and Phil too whenever they visited, they wouldn’t enter his room without Tommy saying they could, so unlike his parents, who would enter whenever they felt like it – only the threat of being seen on stream keeping them away.

Techno came in, frowning when he saw Tommy. “I got a bowl as well, in case you’re not able to make it to the bathroom. Here.”

He placed the bowl next to Tommy on the bed, handing him the tablets and water.

Tommy wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, wishing he could stop crying for just a minute. “Thanks.”

He took the tablets, wrinkling his nose at the bitter taste on his tongue when he didn’t swallow them first try.

Techno sat in front of him on the bed, placing a comforting hand on his knee. “I’m going to call Phil to see if he can come over. I don’t want to accidentally kill you because I don’t know how to look after a sick child and Phil has more common sense than the rest of us combined.”

Tommy started crying harder and Techno looked panicked. “Uh, don’t worry, we’re definitely not going to accidentally kill you, that was a bad joke. Kind of. Phil will probably tell Wil and he’ll come over too, so between the three of us we’ll figure something out.”

Tommy stopped Techno’s rambling by reaching his arms out and leaning forward, not having quite enough energy to throw himself at Techno like he wanted to. Techno made a small sound of understanding and closed the distance, wrapping Tommy up in a warm hug that Tommy snuggled into, grateful for the heat and contact.

He didn’t remember ever getting a hug when he was sick. Didn’t remember anyone ever panicking about making sure he was okay. Or someone getting him painkillers because he was hurting and they wanted to stop it.

But in that moment, he had all of that.

“You’re okay.” Techno whispered into his hair, rubbing a soothing hand down his back. “I’ve got you, you’re okay.”

Tommy gripped the front of Techno’s shirt with all his strength, which wasn’t much, but Techno didn’t try to pull away anyway, still trying to comfort Tommy as best he could. The man was clearly confused about why exactly Tommy was crying, but Tommy didn’t try to explain it, not entirely sure why himself.

Eventually the exhaustion got too much and he let himself close his eyes, falling asleep within seconds in Techno’s warm hold.

  


When he next woke up it was with acid in his throat.

Disorientated, he forgot about the bowl that Techno had brought him earlier and threw up over himself and his covers, chest heaving to expel everything in his stomach and continuing even when there was nothing left to get rid of.

A knock came from his door but Tommy couldn’t say to enter, unable to speak past the retching.

“Tommy?” It was Phil. “I’m coming in.”

Tommy gagged as Phil poked his head through the door first, tears in his eyes. He was so gross, he didn’t want to force the older man to deal with him when he was like this, his own sick all over himself and his covers.

“Oh Toms.” Phil approached him, barely glancing at the mess and picking up the bowl to give it to him and placing a hand on his back. “That’s it, better out than in.”

A minute or so later, Tommy finally stopped retching, though the mess in front of him wasn’t helping.

“Are you done for the moment?” Phil asked, moving his hand to run through Tommy’s hair.

Leaning into the hand, Tommy nodded, feeling almost as tired as he had earlier.

“Okay.” Phil assessed the mess, looking nowhere near as disgusted as he should. “I think you should probably have a shower, if you’re able to stand that long. You can keep your clothes on and one of us can help you, if you’d like.”

Tommy shook his head. “I’ll be fine on my own.”

“Shout if you change your mind.” Phil said. “You don’t need to be embarrassed, we’re all happy to help.”

Tommy nodded and Phil helped him get out of his covers and stand up, stumbling over to the bathroom and starting the shower for him. Phil left the room for a moment before returning with a new set of clothes.

“Wil pretty much insisted that you wear his hoodie because it’s the only one big enough for you.” Phil shrugged. “He seems to be under the impression that you don’t have your own clothes but you know how he is.”

Blinking slowly, Tommy took it from him, the soft fabric feeling like heaven to his cold fingers. He set it on the counter, not wanting to get it dirty before he got the chance to wear it. “Thank you.”

Phil ruffled his hair. “Get washed up, I’ll be waiting for you in your room.”

Tommy nodded and closed the door behind Phil, not bothering to lock it and half worried that if he did, he’d pass out and no one would be able to come help him before he drowned in the shower.

He stripped, throwing his dirty clothes in the laundry basket and shivering when he got under the warm water.

He took his time in washing himself, knowing that he still had to change his bed covers and also knowing that he didn’t have the energy for it. He’d ended up falling asleep on the floor more times than he could count because of the exact same issue in the past.

He resigned himself to doing the same again, knowing that If he tried to change his sheets, he’d end up falling asleep halfway through anyway.

Stepping out the shower, he dried himself and got changed into his new clothes, snuggling into the hoodie that was even softer against his skin than he thought it would be. It was warm as well, and he pulled the hood up to make the most out of it, content with falling asleep on the floor if he got to wear the hoodie while doing so.

He opened the bathroom door, frowning when he realised he could still hear the shower running and turning to look at it.

“Tommy?” Phil said, frowning at him. “You okay?”

“I forgot to turn off the water.” Tommy said. His brain felt so foggy, how had he forgotten to turn off the water?

Phil smiled at him and walked over. “No problem, I’ve got it. You get back into bed and try to drink some of the water I left on your next to it.”

Tommy nodded and walked over to the bed, even though he was confused about how Phil had forgotten he’d just thrown up in it. When he got close enough to see though, he saw that the sheets had already been changed.

He heard Phil stand next to him. “You changed the sheets?”

“Yeah, Wil’s putting the others in the wash now.” Phil said. “I’ll change them back later if you prefer your other ones.”

Inexplicably, Tommy felt tears rise again and he rubbed at his eyes with the sleeves of his hoodie. “I’m sorry, I keep crying today. I don’t even know why.”

Placing a hand on Tommy’s shoulder, Phil’s smile turned sad. “It’s okay, you’re allowed to be upset. Your life’s been a little crazy recently, I wouldn’t be surprised if certain things are only just starting to sink in.”

Tommy didn’t respond, staring wide eyed at Phil who chuckled a little and guided him into his bed. “You’re sick, we’ll talk about it more when you’re better, if you want. Techno said there’s still an hour left before you can take more painkillers, I just want to take your temperature and make sure you haven’t got a fever, is that okay?”

“That’s fine.” Tommy said, bringing his clean covers up to his chin.

He didn’t feel warm, but he still opened his mouth to let Phil take his temperature, waiting patiently for the beep to tell them it was finished.

“Thirty-eight point five.” Phil said. “You’re a little warm, but nothing to be too concerned about yet.”

He handed Tommy the water and Tommy took a few sips before trying to hand it back. Phil shook his head. “Do you think you could drink a little more? It’ll help with your headache.”

Tommy pouted but drank some more and when he tried to hand it back that time, Phil took it from him.

“Are you going to go back to sleep or do you want to come to the living room?” Phil asked, pushing the hair off Tommy’s face. “We can watch a film?”

Even if he did feel like he was minutes off falling asleep, Tommy really didn’t want to fall asleep alone, didn’t want to be reminded of every other time he’d been sick when so far it had been entirely different.

“Can we watch Up?” Tommy asked, although he knew that if Phil said no, he’d still choose to watch a film.

Phil smiled fondly. “I wouldn’t dare to suggest anything else.”

His parents hadn’t even known that Up was his favourite film.

Pushing away his covers, Tommy’s bottom lip wobbled and he stood up, leaning against Phil when he stumbled. “Thanks.”

“Techno got some blankets out.” Phil said, putting an arm around Tommy’s waist to keep him steady. “He got quite a lot of stuff out actually, I’m not sure he’s used to looking after sick people.”

Tommy frowned, remembering how much better he’d felt after talking to Techno earlier and feeling a little defensive of the other. “He did good.”

“I’m not saying he didn’t.” Phil soothed. “Just that he hasn’t had to before. I think he was a little worried about messing up.”

They started walking down the stairs, going slow to make sure Tommy didn’t trip.

Relaxing again, Tommy nodded. “He said he was going to call you so he didn’t accidentally kill me.”

Phil laughed and the sound of it made Tommy smile. “The great Technoblade, bested by a sick child.”

They entered the living room and Wilbur jumped up when they saw them.

“There he is.” Wilbur walked over to them and hugged Tommy the moment he was in reach. “Do you need anything? Water? Food?”

Tommy yawned, slumping against Wilbur. “No”

Wilbur pulled away and Tommy made a small noise of protest before he could stop himself, not wanting to lose the warmth that came with the hug.

“Aww.” Wilbur pinched his cheek and Tommy frowned at him, fully prepared to fight Wilbur if he continued. “Does someone get clingy when they’re sick?”

Tommy pulled on his hoodie strings to hide his face. “Fuck you Wil.”

Was he really being too clingy? He’d interrupted everyone’s days just because he was feeling a little under the weather.

Wilbur threw an arm over his shoulders and guided him over to the couch, gently pushing him down so he was sat in the middle and throwing a blanket over him. “That’s okay. Sick people get free hugs.”

Curling up into a small ball, Tommy buried himself under the blanket, his limbs feeling like lead. “Go away.”

“No.” Wilbur sat next to him, opening his arms and gesturing for Tommy to hug him. “Come on.”

Tommy eyed him suspiciously, not wanting to be mocked more.

His stupid sick brain betrayed him. “You’re just going to be mean.”

“Promise I won’t, it’s no fun when you’re sick. It’s like kicking a puppy.” Wilbur looked sincere, but Tommy was well aware of his skills in acting.

Still, he was cold, and Wilbur’s arms looked so inviting and he _really_ didn’t have the strength to say no to a hug.

He shuffled over so he was leaning against Wilbur’s chest, bringing the blanket with him. “I’m not a puppy.”

Wilbur laughed, running his hands through Tommy’s hair in a repetitive motion. “If you say so.”

Grabbing the remote, Phil sat on Tommy’s other side, close enough that Tommy was able to feel the heat coming off him.

“I’ve already got it ready.” Wilbur said. “You just need to turn it on and press play.”

Tommy watched as Phil turned on the television and Up loaded on the screen, paused at the beginning. Embarrassingly, he felt tears start to fall again at the thought of Wilbur getting his favourite film ready on the off chance that Tommy would want to watch it – a film that he knew everyone else was beyond tired of by now.

His attempt to hide them failed when Wilbur looked down at him.

“What’s wrong Toms? Does your head hurt?” Wilbur’s eyebrows furrowed.

Tommy shook his head, hiding his face with the blanket. His head really didn’t hurt, at least not as much as it had that morning and nowhere near enough to make him cry.

“Where’s Techno?” Tommy asked, hoping to distract them.

“He’s gone to go and buy about a thousand different types of soup.” Phil answered, sounding just as concerned as Wilbur looked. “I can call him if you want?”

He shook his head; he’d already forced Techno to go out. “I don’t want to annoy him.”

Phil tutted, fussing with the edges of the blanket. “You won’t, if anything he’d be glad to know what kind of soup you like.”

“You’re sure?” Tommy choked out because the more he thought about it the nicer talking to Techno sounded.

“I’m sure.” Phil unlocked his phone. “I should probably let him know that you’re awake anyway, so I’ll call him and put him on speaker, okay?”

Wilbur squeezed him and Tommy nodded, wiping his eyes. “Okay.”

Techno answered almost immediately, voice echoing throughout the room. “Phil? What’s wrong? Is Tommy okay?”

“Tommy’s awake Techno.” Phil said with a grin. “He’s here, you’re on speaker.”

“Hi Techno.” Tommy offered, staring at the phone.

Techno’s voice notably softened. “Hey Toms, how are you feeling?”

“Fine.” Tommy lied – even if he was warmer now that he was nestled into Wilbur’s side, he still felt like shit. “How long will you be?”

“Not too much longer.” Techno answered. “I’m at the shop already. What kind of soup do you like?”

Blinking, Tommy tilted his head. “Soup?”

“Soup is the ultimate sick people food.” Wilbur said. “What kind do you normally have when you get ill?”

Normally he’d sit in bed and starve until he found the energy to get up and grab some crackers, but he had a feeling that wasn’t the answer Wilbur wanted.

His mind was blank as he desperately tried to remember a single flavour of soup. “Hot?”

Wilbur snorted. “We weren’t about to give you _cold_ soup, I meant in terms of flavours.”

Tommy shrugged, uncomfortable. “I don’t know.”

He could feel Phil and Wilbur staring at him and resisted the urge to just pull the blanket over his head.

Phil cleared his throat. “Just get a couple each of tomato and chicken, I can always pop out later if they’re disgusting.”

“Got it.” Techno said. “Tomato and chicken. Do you want anything else from the shop, Tommy?”

Tommy shook his head, realising too late that Techno couldn’t see him.

“He shook his head Techno.” Wilbur laughed. “I think this is the quietest he’s ever been.”

Tommy narrowed his eyes. “Bitch.”

Laughing, Phil leaned back into the chair. “He’s got you there, mate.”

“Yeah, you just got destroyed.” Techno said. “Alright, I’m about to pay. I’ll be home soon, are you guys going to watch the movie?”

Phil picked his phone back up from where he’d rested it on Tommy’s legs. “We’re about to put it on. Drive safe.”

“I will.”

Tommy waved at the phone, too tired to say goodbye. The call ended and Phil started the film, the familiar opening instantly grasping Tommy’s attention.

Up was very much his comfort film – his everything film, if he were being completely honest – and before long he was fighting to keep his eyes open.

When he opened his eyes again about ten minutes had passed in the film and he blinked blearily, unsure what had woken him up. He was given his answer when he heard the front door close and he sat up a little against Wilbur, eager to see Techno.

Techno walked into the room, placing a bag on the kitchen counter before walking over to the couch, standing behind Tommy and Wilbur.

Tommy reached over, pulling on Techno’s sleeve. “Sit down.”

Techno chuckled quietly but obeyed, walking around to sit next to Wilbur. When he was sat down, Tommy gripped his sleeve again, holding it closer to him and not letting go – Techno allowed it with a small huff and before long Tommy was asleep again, taking comfort in the fact that he was surrounded by his family.

  


Hushed voices greeted him when he opened his eyes, but he was too busy being thankful that he didn’t feel like he was about to throw up to pay any attention to what they were saying.

Phil was the first to notice he was awake. “Afternoon Toms, how’re you feeling?”

Tommy groaned in response – his head definitely hurt more than it had earlier and he felt like he was drowning in warmth.

“Not good then.” Techno said.

Tommy pushed weakly at the blankets, wanting them off before he melted.

Wilbur helped him once he noticed what Tommy was doing. “Too warm?”

Tommy didn’t answer, too busy coming to terms with the fact that he was still half on top of Wilbur, using him as a pillow – that Wilbur hadn’t moved him off the whole time he was asleep.

Techno placed the back of his hand against Tommy’s forehead and despite the contact only adding to the warmth, Tommy still leaned into it, seeking comfort. “You do feel warmer than earlier.”

“Open up.” Holding the thermometer in front of Tommy’s face, Phil smiled at him fondly, using his other hand to push Tommy’s hair away from where it was sticking to his forehead.

Tommy blinked at him, not having seen him leave to get it, but after a few seconds opened his mouth, keeping the thermometer under his tongue until it beeped.

Taking it out, Phil hummed. “Thirty-nine point one degrees, if it keeps getting higher, we might have to go to the hospital.”

“Here.” Techno handed him two paracetamol and some water. “It’s been more than four hours since you last had any.”

Tommy took them with shaking hands, placing the tablets in his mouth and then using the water to swallow them. He drank some more water before handing the glass back to Techno and slumping against Wilbur.

Wilbur shifted underneath him and started to move away.

Tommy whined and Wilbur shushed him gently. “I just need to use the toilet and then I’ll be back. I’m sure Techno or Phil are happy to take my place.”

Tommy froze when he realised what he’d done. It was so selfish of him to try and take more of Wilbur’s time than he was offered; he’d been given so much already and now he was getting greedy and demanding more than he deserved. It was so typical of him that he was half surprised he didn’t throw up then and there.

Moving off Wilbur, Tommy hugged his knees, forcing himself to be content with that. “I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong Tommy.” Wilbur said, grabbing his hand for a brief moment before standing up. “I just don’t want to piss myself.”

Tommy nodded as Wilbur left, resting his head on his knees and closing his eyes. Whatever reason Wilbur had for leaving, it was still wrong of Tommy to try and steal more of his time and attention.

God, that was all he was doing wasn’t it – making a big deal out of nothing just to get everyone’s attention. It was what he was always doing: exaggerating stuff to make the others feel sorry for him and care about him. If he were good enough, truly good enough, then he wouldn’t have to – but he did.

He felt the couch dip on either side of him. “Toms?”

That was Techno on his right, which meant Phil had to be on his left.

“Yeah?” Tommy whispered, not looking at them.

“Can we give you a hug?” Phil spoke that time, lowering his voice so he was speaking at the same volume Tommy had.

Tommy turned his head to peek at Phil. “Are you sure?”

Phil nodded solemnly and when Tommy looked at Techno, the other copied the action.

Voice wobbling, Tommy nodded back at them. “A hug would be nice.” 

Phil didn’t hesitate in shuffling closer to Tommy and throwing an arm around him, pulling him into his side. Techno waited a second or two, watching Tommy closely before doing the same and wrapping an arm around them both.

Phil kissed the top of his head. “Is this okay?”

Tommy was surrounded by warmth again, the heat from Phil and Techno on the verge of uncomfortable, and yet, he didn’t think he’d ever be able to ask them to move.

He’d never had that problem before.

Nodding, Tommy sniffed a little, his mouth moving before he could process his own words. “Love you guys.”

By the time he realised what he said, it was too late to take it back.

The problem wasn’t even that what he had said was wrong.

He’d struggled with his definition of love for a long time. People always said that love was intrinsic in family, but he’d always known that no matter what he felt for his parents, they had no love for him, or at least not in the way that he’d seen it described.

He’d wondered about that too – if he really loved his parents or if he just felt obliged to say he did. He’d felt guilty about it for a while, that his parents had done so much for him and he was doubting the supposed instinctual love between them, but then he’d realised that his parents wouldn’t care either way and had let the feeling go.

So, he’d waited, and waited, and continued to try to figure it out. Everyone else just seemed to know, seemed to feel it and understand it without issue – he’d visited Tubbo and he’d seen the ease at which his friend said it to his family and Tommy had wondered if he was just broken, unable to feel love in the same way as the rest of the world.

He knew he cared about Tubbo, knew he’d do anything for him, in the depths of the night had decided he’d die for him if it came to it, but he hadn’t known if that was love, or if he really was just clingy.

But then he’d met Phil and Wilbur and Techno, and sure, they’d had a rocky start on stream, but they’d gotten to know each other off stream, _really_ gotten to know each other and it had shown. People had started making jokes about them being a family and Tommy had laughed but it had stuck and the others had started to say it jokingly to each other.

Tommy had been so confused – how could they say it so easily? Did they mean it? Did it not make them panic as much as it did Tommy?

And then he’d been kicked out and he’d known that even if he had felt some semblance of love for his parents, it was useless and had only ended up in more hurt.

But then hours later he’d been picked up at the train station, hell, the next day he’d been offered a permanent place to stay and he’d been forced to change his mind because if love was Techno helping his set up his computer, or Phil saying goodnight to him every night without fail, or Wilbur greeting him with a hug whenever they were separated for more than five minute – if love was all of that and so much more, then Tommy wanted to experience it every second of every day. He wanted to be enveloped in its warmth and imprint the feeling of being loved onto his very soul.

Love had found its way into his life and Tommy had never been more grateful.

Other people’s definition of love hadn’t mattered after that; he had a family that he would kill for and who he _knew_ cared about him in all the ways that did matter, regardless of what love was supposed to mean to anyone else.

So no, the problem wasn’t that he didn’t love his family – not when he’d happily spend his every spare minute with them, when the world could end and he wouldn’t mind as long as they were by his side.

The problem lied in the fact that he’d never said it before – not to these people and never with such certainty. He didn’t know how the others would react, whether they’d be able to hear the conviction in his voice and be freaked out by it.

What if once again his devotion to his family was stronger than their devotion to him?

There was something in the air, an acknowledgement from them all of the change that had just occurred.

“I love you too.” Phil squeezed him gently, affection coating his words. “Always.”

Techno nudged their heads together. “Love you Toms.”

Rushing into the room, Wilbur almost tripped over his own feet in his haste. “Wait, I want to join in too!”

Tommy giggled as Wilbur kneeled in front of them, taking Tommy’s hands with a serious face. “Wil, it’s too late, you missed out.”

“No, no, no.” Wilbur said. “I love you!”

Both Techno and Phil were outright laughing at Wilbur and Tommy joined in, taking his hands back to pat Wilbur condescendingly on the top of his head. “That’s nice.”

“So cruel.” Wilbur leaned forward, pressing his face onto Tommy’s knees. “I’ll never recover.”

Tommy giggled again before sighing, running his hands through Wilbur’s hair. “Love you too Wil.”

Wilbur stood up, stretching his arms high above his head. “It’s a miracle, I’m alive.”

“Nerd.” Techno said, making Tommy laugh again.

Settling down with a small smile on his face, Tommy took a second to appreciate the people around him.

He should have known better than to doubt his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! I posted it when I said I would (ish), how unlike me!
> 
> There's one more part after this, then I'm going to consider this series done, unless people have other requests, which I'd probably just add as a last multichapter fic to add to if people ever request anything. I'm not sure when that's going to be out, but the things I've hinted at in this fic will be in it (think dog, pink hair and probably a higher serving of fluff since the fics are gradually getting less angsty). I'll likely post the first chapter of a different fic that I've been working on first, so apologies for that but the writing brain does what the writing brain wants.
> 
> I actually quite like this chapter, even if it is shorter than the rest in this series, so let me know what you thought <3 As always, you can find me on Tumblr @piteouspeculiarity if you want to hang out!
> 
> Finally, a huge thank you to you for reading and all the nice feedback I've been getting. I know I say it whenever I update, but you guys really are a huge motivation for me to post these. It can be hard writing in a new fandom but your encouragement has really helped with all of that, so thank you!


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